


Different From the Last, But Still the Same

by TheWitchBoy



Series: Batman AU: Three Brothers [1]
Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan), Batman - All Media Types, Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 20:02:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11698920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWitchBoy/pseuds/TheWitchBoy
Summary: Bruce Wayne, at age ten, bears witness to the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne, in what is assumed to be a mugging gone wrong.Some parties who are directly affected by this do not bear witness, at all.





	Different From the Last, But Still the Same

**Author's Note:**

> Partially to gauge interest. Partially a Placeholder (so that the fact that there is a "series" taunts me into writing it).
> 
> Important note, here: John Blake is not "John Robin Blake" but "Jonathan Blake Wayne." I have this itch to "fix" certain things in DC lore (any lore - DCAU, DCCU, comics, cartoons, CW shows...), but especially Batman lore. John Blake is, and always has been, one of those characters I was interested in... until they used him for the Robin Easter egg, in the Nolan franchise. That soured the character for me, and I've had the itch to use him for something else, ever since.
> 
> For years (literally) I've been making a patchwork quilt out of lore I liked and retcons of lore I didn't like, and this is the beginning of finally writing some of that out.

Once upon a time, there lived a rich family in a big house with expansive grounds. They had a very small staff, though, consisting primarily of a trusted butler.

The father loved kids, and rejoiced at every moment he could spend with them, though he was very busy and often found himself going days where he wouldn't see his own. The mother loved family, and was always willing to cancel a social engagement if any member of hers needed her. The butler was more family than hired help, and was treated as such by the whole family.

This family was a happy one. The father was a prominent doctor and philanthropist, the mother was a popular socialite and charitable volunteer. They had three boys, together, and were hoping to welcome a fourth.

Their first child was named after his father. He was a brilliant child and his parents spared no expense on his education. The second child was named for an old friend. He was a precocious child who didn't make friends easily. For their second child, the mother and father brought tutors into the house, rather than put him through more trouble with the private school his elder brother had attended. Their third child was a remarkably normal, well-adjusted child who made friends easily, and couldn't wait to go back to school, and looked forward to after-preschool. The mother and father delighted in encouraging his social disposition, while reassuring their middle child that his less social nature was perfectly fine – he didn't need to be envious of his younger brother.

\--

Thomas Jr. was away, as part of a highschool foreign exchange program, when it happened. Jonathan was at home with Alfred, either sleeping or helping Alfred bake. Bruce, though, was with Martha and Thomas at the theatre. The theatre they left early, on Thomas Sr.'s insistence, which was on behalf of Bruce and Bruce's badly hidden boredom. "We'll watch a movie, instead," his father said.

Martha laughed and put a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "It might be a bit late to start a movie," she said.

"Nonsense!" Thomas put a hand on Bruce's other shoulder. "There's always time to watch a classic. Don't you think so, Bruce? I'm sure we have that Zorro movie sitting around, somewhere..."

Bruce lit up.

How quickly things changed.

One minute, Bruce laughed as his parents pretended to bicker about letting Bruce stay up late, the next minute, Bruce was pushed protectively behind his mother and father as a mugger faced off with them.

He remembered the pearls most vividly. His mother's favourite necklace broke, cascading across the pavement and scurrying its individual pearls away, away, away. But then there was blood. Bruce may have screamed, but what he remembered was kneeling over his parents when the GCPD showed up, and an Officer Gordon coaxed him to his feet.

There was blood on Bruce's jeans, and some on his shirt.

Alfred and Jonathan showed up at the precinct, horribly late (hadn't anyone thought to call Alfred sooner?) to pick Bruce up. Officer Gordon sat with him, for the most part, and tried awkwardly to comfort him.

"What happened?" Jonathan yawned, rubbing blearily at his eyes. They must have left the Manor in a hurry, because Jonathan was in footie jammies and folded into a blanket. Alfred, as always, was impeccably dressed, but looked more concerned than Bruce had ever seen him.

Bruce burst into tears when he saw Alfred, and Jonathan startled, then started to cry, too. Alfred got an arm around Bruce and held him and Jonathan, both, close. No one had told Thomas Jr., yet, though, and Bruce couldn't help but wonder... wonder... who was going to tell Thomas?

"They-they-they're gone," Bruce managed. Officer Gordon was still there, and convened quietly with Alfred on the details. Not quietly enough, no matter how hard Bruce tried to ignore them, though. "They're gone!" Hysterics were setting in, and Bruce was hyper-ventilating. He was ten. Ten-year-olds weren't supposed to deal with things like that.

Officer Gordon was rubbing his back in sympathy. Bruce might have taken offense at it, as he was hardly one for social interaction of most types, but he was too busy crying into Alfred's vest and saying the same two words, over and over again. Gone. Dead. They were dead. They were...

\--

The next few days were the worst. Thomas couldn't even make it home for the services, and John was so confused. Bruce, though, had cried himself out, that first night. He couldn’t really feel anything but the numbness as he stood with John and Alfred to accept the sympathies of everyone who gathered for the memorial and funeral services.

The will, thankfully, gave guardianship to Alfred, not any of the Waynes or Kanes (Bruce was particularly glad that they weren't being split up, but there was something to be said about managing to dodge the bullet that was "being put into Uncle Phillip's care"). The will provided for education and money allowances for basic expenditures, some cash for frivolity, Alfred's paycheck, and a number of other things that Bruce didn't quite understand (but, given a few months, he would read up on the things he didn't understand, so that he wouldn't be in the dark).

The Waynes' staff was cut considerably until Alfred was the only staff member consistently in the house, where he had lived with the family since before Bruce's birth, anyway.

Thomas called to say he was going to finish his term as an exchange student, rather than coming home. Alfred took the call, but Thomas took the time to talk to each of his brothers, too. Bruce thought he sounded broken, he also thought his brother must have been in denial about what happened.

Bruce wasn't in denial. He wasn't in shock, anymore, either. He was just numb.

And John didn't really understand.

Bruce's was the face the media used most. He had been there, after all. Alfred kept the press as under control as he could, but they still hounded both resident Waynes, whenever possible. Alfred took John out of his school and implemented tutoring, just to avoid the way the youngest Wayne (at only four) was being hounded by reporters, paparazzi, and his own young classmates, or else their parents.

Bruce was almost relieved when Alfred announced their trip. A vacation, just to get away. A rented house, far out in the country, where they could spend the summer without the prying eyes that poked and prodded at them, hungry for a new story.

Thomas still hadn't come home, though, so it would be just Bruce and John, for the time being.

\--

Once upon a time, there lived a rich family in a big house with expansive grounds. Then, the family fractured, the house nigh emptied, and the expanses of the grounds stopped mattering.

**Author's Note:**

> Opinions would be appreciated. But, in the end, I write what amuses me, entertains me, or itches to be written. This will probably be no different. I have to get into another computer, in order to get something previously written in this AU, and then I'll probably be running with this and making some shorts, here and there, for this universe.
> 
> Sidenote: I may rewrite this. It's "just" a placeholder, a taste of what is to come, but I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out, honestly.


End file.
